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Your rep's pipeline has gone cold. Conversion rates are dropping. You can see the confidence draining week by week.
So you check their activity metrics. Review calls in your conversation intelligence platform. Send them another training resource on objection handling.
Nothing changes.
Here's what we've noticed working with sales teams: the tools that actually transform struggling performers aren't in your tech stack. They're in focused conversations, simple maths, and connecting daily grind to personal goals.
Most sales leaders are solving the wrong problem.
Your struggling rep isn't incompetent across the board. They're breaking down at one specific point in your sales process.
We call these sticky points.
One rep might be brilliant at building rapport but crumbles when asking for the order. Another nails discovery but their proposals consistently fall flat. Someone else presents well but avoids negotiation conversations entirely.
Pull your rep's last twenty opportunities. Map precisely where they died.
Was it getting access to the economic buyer? Handling technical objections? Converting proposals into signed contracts?
This is where most coaching goes wrong. Managers say "be better at sales" instead of "you're brilliant at building relationships and excellent at negotiation, but you're struggling when you need to expand conversations to other stakeholders. Let's fix that specific issue."
The difference matters. When reps understand they're not generally bad at sales but need to improve one specific skill, the path forward becomes clear.
Sales leaders organise team building events. Structure commission accelerators. Promote President's Club trips.
Then wonder why their struggling reps still aren't performing.
Sit down with your struggling rep. Ask what they actually want outside of work.
Not "hit quota." Not "earn good money."
Push deeper. What does that money enable?
One rep might be saving for a house deposit of fifty thousand pounds. Another might be supporting family back home.
Once you know their genuine motivation, do the maths right there with them. I.e…
"Based on your conversion rates and commission structure, you need this much pipeline. That requires this many meetings per month. Which means 87 cold calls per day to get that house deposit."
Suddenly those calls aren't arbitrary metrics imposed by management. They're concrete steps toward home ownership.
When that rep hits a rough patch three weeks later, you remind them:
"Remember, we're building pipeline for that house deposit. Go back and listen to those three discovery calls from last week where you absolutely nailed it. You've got the skills."
This doesn't require sophisticated tools. Often it's just a Google Doc and a conversation.
It works because you've created a direct line between uncomfortable prospecting calls today and meaningful life goals.
Modern sales reps have better tools than any previous generation. World-class CRMs. Intent data and the other 1,000 sales tools on the market.
Yet accountability is declining, particularly in large tech companies where reps are given everything to succeed.
Here's the paradox for 2026: the easier we make the tactical elements, the more critical the fundamentals become.
Not the fundamentals of operating Salesforce or setting up sequences.
The fundamentals of understanding what drives each person and helping them see the connection between today's uncomfortable activities and tomorrow's outcomes.
The opportunity in sales exists precisely because it's difficult. The high earnings reflect the hard work required.
Help your team embrace this reality rather than shy away from it. When reps understand why they're doing difficult work - connected to their specific goals, not abstract terms - their resilience increases dramatically.
Identify your three struggling reps.
Before you check dashboards or review metrics, book thirty minutes with each one.
Ask what they're actually working towards in life. Push past the hit quota to what does that money enable? Are they saving for something specific? Supporting family? Building toward financial independence?
Then work through the maths with them in real time.
Show them exactly how many calls, meetings, and deals stand between their current position and what they genuinely want. Make it concrete. Make it personal. Make it about their aspirations, not your quarterly targets.
The conversation might feel awkward, especially if you've never approached coaching this way.
Push through the discomfort anyway.
The alternative is watching talented people gradually lose belief, blame the product or the market, and eventually leave. Meanwhile, the simplest coaching tool was available the entire time.
This approach creates different accountability. When reps miss activity targets, you're not just pointing at a dashboard number. You're reminding them of their own stated goals and asking whether today's choices align with where they want to be next year.
That's a much more powerful conversation than you only made 60 calls instead of 87.
Reps who understand their personal why demonstrate greater resilience during difficult periods.
They're less likely to blame external factors when deals don't close. They take ownership of development because they see how it serves their interests, not just company objectives.
This builds trust. When your team knows you genuinely care about their personal goals and actively help them progress, loyalty increases. Retention improves. Culture strengthens because people feel seen as individuals, not quota-carriers.
The maths work in your favour too. Investing thirty minutes to understand what drives each rep, then fifteen minutes quarterly to reconnect them with those goals, prevents the much larger time investment of recruiting and onboarding replacements.
Exceptional sales leaders understand their job isn't primarily about reviewing dashboards or attending forecast calls.
It's about unlocking potential in each individual by helping them see how the difficult daily work of sales connects to the life they want to build.
That's coaching that transforms performance.
And it doesn't require a single piece of sales technology to implement.
Ready to build a comprehensive coaching framework for your entire team? Let’s talk.
